Governor Gavin Newsom mocked President Donald Trump’s draft-dodging history after the president told the U.S. Navy he’d “love” to have their jobs.
The California governor’s press office took to X on Tuesday to jokingly brand the Commander-in-Chief the “Bone Spurs in Chief” after Trump gave a rambling military address earlier that day.
Said by Bone Spurs in Chief https://t.co/ll9fXeQclE pic.twitter.com/6WG6Xb8iiQ
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 28, 2025
“You are winners. Oh, I’d love to have your job,” the president told troops aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier off the coast of Japan.
The press office also shared a screenshot of a headline detailing how Trump avoided the Vietnam draft.
The headline is from a 2019 Military Times article that reports on Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, claiming the president faked a medical condition to get a deferment.
“Mr. Trump claimed [his medical deferment] was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery,” Cohen told members of the House Oversight Committee in Feb. 2019.
The president received a total of five deferments from the draft, according to The New York Times. Four came when he was a college student, and the fifth was granted in 1968 after he received a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels, which is a buildup of calcium.
Trump, who never served in a war, declared himself a war hero in August after ordering the bombings on Iran.
The president’s pat on the back came seconds after giving the same distinguished title to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a man who has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes.
“He’s a war hero, because we worked together. He’s a war hero. I guess I am too,” he told Fox News host Mark Levin on his radio show.
Trump has been embarking on a tour of East Asia, kicking off in Malaysia’s capital on Sunday.
His arrival in Japan on Monday began with him gingerly descending the steps of Air Force One, fueling speculation around his declining health.
And on a flight from Malaysia, Trump admitted to reporters that he had an MRI scan during what was claimed to be a routine medical checkup earlier this month, without explaining why.
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